Last weekend I went away to a cottage. It was a weekend away for a group of 6 ladies…pre-wedding event for my future sister in-law. When planning out what food I would contribute to the trip I decided to make one of my all time favourite summer dishes – gazpacho. Gazpacho is a cold tomato soup, that screams summer to me. I usually make a big batch for camping and like to bring it along on picnics in the park. Gazpacho is ideal because it is refreshing, won’t spoil and is pretty easy to make. Here’s what to do.
Gazpacho
(adapted from Canadian Living)
3 large ripe tomatoes (or 6 small tomatoes)
1 cucumber
1 sweet pepper (green, yellow, red or orange)
1 small onion (we left the onion out this time)
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
couple of dashes of hot sauce (Tobasco or whatever you have on hand)
1. peel and seed the tomatoes and cucumber
Hot Tip: to peel a tomato follow these steps
(a) cut a shallow “x” in the bottom of the tomato
(b) place tomatoes in bowl, cover with boiling water
(c) wait for skin to start to peel
(d) remove tomato from boiling water and peel off skin with your fingers
(e) core and cut tomato into quarters
(f) using your fingers pop out the seeds
(g) crush the remaining tomato flesh with your hands
2. finely chop the cucumber
3. add tomatoes and cucumber to large bowl
4. add chopped pepper, onion and garlic to tomatoes and cucumber
5. transfer 3/4 of the veggie mixture to a blender; add tomato juice, hot sauce and olive oil
6. blend until smooth Hot Tip: you can blend the entire soup smooth, if that is the consistency you like
7. pour smooth soup into bowl with chopped veggies; transfer to serving bowl
8. can be served as is, or with croutons
The smell alone of this soup makes my mouth water! We, my sister and I, served the gazpacho as a starter for our dinner of chicken burgers, grilled asparagus and potato with green bean salad. That is summer cottage cooking. What are you cooking at your cottage this summer?